The Last Grimm_Red's Hood

by H. L. Wampler

  “Shower’s by the bedroom. I’ll get some breakfast made for us.”

  I stood at the top of one of the sets of stairs and followed his movements as he bustled around his kitchen. A smile played at my lips as he kept pulling things out of the fridge. He carefully cracked a few eggs into a bowl and began to whisk them as butter melted in a pan on the stove. Mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, cheese, red and green peppers sat near a cutting board. He was making omelets. He glanced up and saw me watching him. He flashed a smile and returned to julienning the vegetables.

  I walked to the bathroom in utter shock. I was almost afraid to walk away from him. I didn’t want this all to turn out being some magnificent dream that was going to end at any moment. I felt like I was floating on cloud nine. How can one person make such a difference in your life?

  When I emerged from the bathroom he was sitting at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. Two square, white plates sat there with big mugs of coffee next to them.

  “Hungry?”

  “Famished,” I said.

  “I hope you like omelets.”

  “I love them,” I smiled.

  I sat down across from him and dug in to the wonderful breakfast. It was so peaceful and serene with him. It just sucked that we had to leave for work.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Connor and I walked through the doors to RoseMarie Fashions and were both surprised by the sight of a statuesque brunette sitting at the reception desk. She looked up from the papers she was writing on and beamed a perfect smile at us.

  “Hi! Welcome to RoseMarie Fashions. Do you have an appointment today?” the enthusiastic girl asked us, a smile plastered on her face.

  “No, we work here,” Connor mumbled.

  “Oh! You must be Connor and Abigail! Miss Hexe said you would be here this morning.”

  “Who are you?” I asked side-eyeing her.

  “I’m Sasha. I’m the new receptionist.”

  “I put the ad in a few days ago.”

  “Miss Hexe interviewed and hired me on the spot yesterday,” she smiled.

  “Of course she did. That’s how Belinda usually does it. Welcome to the office,” Connor said shaking the girl’s hand.

  Her olive toned cheeks turned a slight shade of pink, and she smiled at him.

  “Hi. It’s nice to meet you,” I smiled warmly.

  “Yes, I’m just sorry it had to be under these circumstances,” her pretty pink mouth turned down at the edges, and she seemed genuinely upset.

  “It was a tragedy,” Connor said.

  “Would either of you like coffee?” she asked eagerly changing the subject.

  “No thanks,” Connor held up his coffee cup.

  “How about you, Abigail?”

  “No thanks, Sasha,” I held up my cup.

  “Oh,” she sat down pouting.

  “Maybe Belinda would like some?” I suggested.

  “I’ll ask her!” the overly eager receptionist jumped up, and quickly headed to Belinda’s office.

  She brushed against Connor, and stuttered an apology while turning beat red again. He put his hand on the small of my back and walked with me to our offices.

  “You know it’s not fair.”

  “What?” he asked.

  “Doing that to women.”

  “Doing what?” he asked sounding extremely confused.

  “Leaving them speechless and frazzled in your presence,” I laughed.

  “I don’t do that,” he protested.

  “Yes you do. You do it to everyone, even me at times.”

  “You get frazzled around me?” he laughed.

  “Sometimes, yes. I do.”

  “Isn’t that cute,” he leaned down and quickly kissed me.

  I turned and went into my office. Today was going to be a day that I would not be able to keep my mind on work. The stupid in-box seemed to have grown even more. If I didn’t know better I would say Belinda snuck in before I got here and just dumped piles of papers in there, or they were reproducing overnight. Maybe I would start separating the papers at night so they couldn’t get their hanky panky on. I started at the top and began on the monotonous task of making sure everything was correct. Spreadsheets. I hated looking over spreadsheets. For only the second time since I started, I did not look at the clock.

  A soft knock interrupted my work. I put down my pen and rubbed at my eyes.

  “Yes?” I called out hoarsely.

  “Abigail?”

  “What?”

  “Belinda needs you in her office,” Sasha said quietly poking her head in.

  “Okay, thanks,” I smiled wryly and went back to my paperwork. “I’ll go as soon as I finish this up.”

  I finished a few more statements before realizing it had already been ten minutes since Sasha came to get me. I reluctantly got out of the oversized leather chair and headed for the door. As I walked down the hallway I heard giggling from near the kitchen. I let my curiosity take over and snuck a quick peek. My jaw nearly hit the floor at the spectacle I saw. The new receptionist had her long, lanky arms thrown around Connor’s neck. She kept playing with his hair and touching him. There was a big, shit eating grin on her face. He must have seen me because he pushed her back and came after me. I turned and hurried down the hall. My throat felt so tight and the tears stung my eyes. I knew I should have stayed away from him, but I just did not listen to myself.

  Why didn’t I listen to myself? Why don’t I ever listen to myself? I am such an idiot! I just yelled at myself in my mind.

  It was all I could do. I couldn’t yell out loud in the middle of Belinda’s office. I couldn’t cause a scene with Connor and Sasha right here. That would be a sure fire way to be dismissed from this internship.

  “Abigail! Wait!” Connor called after me.

  “I have to work. You can have the dress back tomorrow then I don’t want to hear from you again. Do you understand?”

  He grabbed my hand and stopped me from opening the door to Belinda’s office, “Please listen. You don’t understand what…”

  “Don’t tell me what I did and did not see, Connor. Don’t. I have to work,” I went into the office before he could say anything else.

  I hoped I could keep my composure around her. The dam that was my eyes threaten to break, and allow the hot, salty tears to spill over. I knew my eyes had to be glassy, possibly blood shot by now. I figured as long as I kept my head down and in the notebook Belinda would never notice. I sat in the plush, leather chair across from her as she poured over magazines and other notes. Unfortunately we were interrupted by a soft knock. She rubbed her forehead and slowly closed her eyes. The woman was easily irritated.

  “What?” she called out.

  “Miss Hexe?”

  “I’m busy, Sasha, this had better be important.”

  “There are two gentlemen here with a delivery for you.”

  I could have sworn that her expression brightened up a bit, “Send them in!”

  Two burly men came into the room; they seemed to be burdened by the large, rectangular object they carried. It was covered by a black, velvet cloth.

  “Where do you want this thing?” one of the men asked.

  “Hang it on the wall over there,” Belinda pointed to one of the far walls.

  “Sure thing,” the guy said.

  As they left the office, she got out of her chair and walked over to her newly acquired possession.

  “Do you have any idea what this is?” Belinda asked in amazement.

  “I can’t say that I do," I replied.

  She yanked the black cloth off the object, revealing a large, full length mirror.

  “It’s an antique I’ve been looking for, for a very long time.”

  “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  The glass was so incredibly clear and streak free, the sides were gold with beautiful etchings. Belinda stood in front of it running her hands up and down the sides. It looked so familiar, yet I was sure I
had never seen it before. Belinda seemed completely enchanted by it. She forgot I was there, and I swear she started talking to it.

  The mirror was odd. Something about it didn’t sit right with me, but I could not put my finger on it.

  “Do you want me to go?” I asked.

  “Hmm?” Belinda asked absent mindedly.

  “Do you want me to go?”

  She looked up, the slightest hint of a smile on her face, “No, we’ll get back to work.”

  “Where did you get that?”

  “From far, far away.”

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Okay, back to the Cosmo article and the clothes. RoseMarie made a huge mistake choosing…” I tuned her out pretty much for the rest of her rant about the latest outfit a RoseMarie intern picked out.

  She usually just ranted about them. Nothing major to take notes for, which gave me time to be distracted. The mirror distracted me from Belinda and from Connor. It looked as though it were alive. I could see so much personality in it and at one point I thought I saw the slightest form of a person looking out at me.

  That is insane, Abigail. It’s an antique that Belinda found. There are no people trapped in mirrors. I tried to rationalize with the irrational part of my brain, but it was useless. I knew something was different about that mirror and with everything that had been falling out my family’s secret skeleton closet, was it completely implausible to think that people could be trapped in mirrors?

  Chapter Twenty-four

  As quickly as the translucent image had shimmered into view, it was gone. I pried my eyes off the mirror and tried paying attention to Belinda. Thankfully she had her attention divided between magazines and her new mirror most of the time. I was also glad we weren’t done till after six. Connor and Sasha would be long gone.

  “Good job today, Abigail. We were very productive.”

  “Thank you. See you tomorrow, Belinda,” I muttered standing, still staring at the mirror.

  “Do you want to look at it closer?” she asked.

  “Can I?”

  “Please do.”

  I took a few tentative steps forward, almost afraid that someone’s hand would shot out and grab ahold of me. I studied the glass and the frame it was in.

  “There are smudges on the frame,” I said absently.

  “What kind of smudges?” Belinda asked.

  “I’m not sure. They’re a really dark brown,” I said trailing my finger along one of them. A few specks stuck to my hand.

  I raised it to my nose to sniff, it was an awful metallic smell. Blood.

  “You might want to have it cleaned,” I muttered.

  “Why is that?”

  “I think there is blood on the frame. On all sides of it.”

  “How peculiar,” she said burying her face in another magazine.

  “Yes, very peculiar,” I repeated, taken aback by her casual nature at the fact that her mirror had blood on it.

  I stole one last look at the puzzling mirror and chalked it up to the eccentricness of it, and my extreme emotional state of mind. I had mixed feelings when I walked past Connor’s dark office. I didn’t want to see him, but had hoped he was waiting for me to at least explain himself and beg my forgiveness. Some groveling would have helped his case. I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. As I took a late walk of shame down the hall I let the water works go. I wanted to kick myself for believing him and all his lies. He didn’t love me. I mean he took my virginity last night and already he had the new receptionist hanging all over him. I felt like such a fool. I was so dirty now. There was such an insane amount of regret wracking my brain. My stomach churned, and I thought I was going to throw up. I went into my own office to gather my things and stood at my desk in the dark. A sob escaped my mouth and the anger over took the self-pity. It seethed and nagged at me as I stood there crying like an idiot.

  “Fuck!” I yelled while slamming my fists onto the desk.

  “Whoa there, killer,” a velvety voice said from across the room.

  I spun around and squinted into the darkness; I could see Connor’s white button up shirt against the dark fabric of my little love seat.

  “You! Why the hell are you in my office? I don’t want to see you. I thought I made that clear!” I yelled at him.

  “Why are you getting so worked up, Abs?”

  “Why? You seriously don’t know what you did wrong?” I yelled.

  “No, what did I do this time?”

  “You lied to me you, bastard! You buttered me up with the sweet things you said, the amazing sex, the delicious snacks, and the clothes,” I sniffed.

  “What did I lie about?” he asked.

  “Loving me. You did just want in my pants.”

  “When did I say I didn’t love you?”

  “You didn’t have to, Connor! I saw you with her!”

  “So you watched the entire time?” he raised his eyebrows at me.

  “Well, no.”

  “Well, calm down then. Don’t be so emotional.”

  “Okay, then explain what exactly I saw.”

  “You saw her flirting with me and me trying to explain I wasn’t available. She actually feels bad about the whole thing and thinks you’re mad at her.”

  “I am mad.”

  It was my turn to stare at him. I didn’t want to believe him. It was easier to believe that he used me and was moving on. Maybe he does plan on going back to the story after all.

  The tears still streamed down my cheeks.

  “You don’t believe me?” he stood up and moved into the light, hurt was plastered on his face.

  “No,” I said flatly ignoring the sad look.

  “Why?”

  “Why should I?”

  “Because I’m not lying to you. Do you think any other girl would be as understanding about my past or what I do?” he said taking another step closer to me.

  “Maybe.”

  “Oh please, Abigail,” he rolled his eyes.

  He was standing inches away from me. I could smell his minty breath and feel the heat on my nose.

  “I’m mad at you,” I protested to his closeness.

  He wrapped one arm around my waist, and used his available hand to brush a few stray hairs out of my face.

  “You’re so beautiful.”

  “You’re a charmer and it’s not going to work on me.”

  “Quit being mad. You’re the one for me. I don’t want Sasha, or anybody else. Just you,” he whispered in my ear.

  A shiver ran up my spine at the feeling of his hot breath on my neck.

  The anger began to melt away. I had no idea if trusting him would be a mistake or not, but I wanted him. I had to get serious for a second, “Will this get dangerous?”

  “Will what?”

  “Us, with trying to fix all of this.”

  “Probably.”

  “What if something happens to you?”

  “Nothing is going to happen,” he reassured me.

  He bent his head down and kissed me. It was soft and passionate. I melted. I couldn’t stay mad at him and not believe him. I was putty in his arms. Whenever he held me or kissed me it was like all the problems in the world vanished; it was just the two of us.

  “I do have something for you,” he walked to the sofa and picked up a box.

  It wasn’t very large, but it was heavier than I expected.

  “What is this?”

  “When we do run into the wolves, you are going to need some sort of protection in case shit really hits the fan.”

  Inside the box was a small silver axe.

  “Your axe?” I whispered.

  “Mine from when I was a kid. The one I use now was my fathers. It’s a lot bigger and heavier.”

  “I’m going to have to fight. Aren’t I?” I whispered.

  He nodded his head subtly.

  “Awesome,” I said sarcastically turning my new weapon over in my hand.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Connor and I walke
d through the bustling downtown area back to his car.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me staying with you?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “I really don’t mind.”

  “Connor, I’m fine. I’m just going to eat and go to bed. I won’t be much fun.”

  “If you say so,” he said navigating his way toward the parking lot that my car had been in.

  I felt so lonely in my car. It was quiet, even with the radio on. I didn’t really want to go back to the dark, desolate house that was my home. I knew mom was going to be there, but she was not really the greatest company. I had so many new emotions going through my mind; I wanted someone who was actually going to smile, nod, and listen; someone who actually had emotion to share with me. I knew deep down that I really wanted to be with Connor. I didn’t really want to leave him and go home. I didn’t know why I was acting like that. I felt like such a clingy, crazy person, and that was not me.

  While I should have been paying more attention to my driving, I let my thoughts drift to the previous night. I keep seeing his face in the throes of passion with me, his eyes rolling to the back of his head in pure ecstasy and a warm shudder ran through my body. Then, I remembered the axe. All thoughts happy and warm disappeared. I knew it was only a matter of time before the wolf would be after me. I knew I had to stop staying out at night, mom would need protection as well. Panic gripped my heart when I thought of something trying to eat my mom. She may have been an emotionless pit, but she was still my mom and I loved her.

  The ringing phone startled me out of my thoughts.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Abby!” the familiar soprano voice sang from the other end.

  “Anna, how are you?" I sighed heavily.

  “I’m fine.” she said.

  “So you aren’t mad at me?” I asked.

  “Why would I be mad at you?”

  “Last night with Connor, you seemed really upset.”

  “Oh I don’t care about that. He’s not all that good looking anyway,” she said.

  That liar.

  “Where have you been?”

  “Interning. Remember?”

  “No, last night silly! I went back to your house because I have your books and there was no Abby.”

  “I was picking up my car,” I lied.